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New Line and MGM signed a deal to co-finance and co-distribute The Hobbit and a sequel to the film. New Line will handle distribution in North America, and MGM will distribute internationally, the two studios said. It's unclear whether Jackson will helm the films.
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That does not equate to "The Hobbit as two films." It is greedy, but it's not The Hobbit, part 1 and The Hobbit, part 2. It's The Hobbit and a sequel.

I think Peter jackson should just wake up one day...look around..have a cup of coffee...and then get a bullhorn, walk out to his deck, and scream "FECK IT ALL!!!! I'M PETER JACKSON!!!!! AFTER THE HOBBIT AND IT'S SEQUAL, I'M GONNA MAKE THE SIMILLARION INTO A SET OF 6 MOVIES....AND YOUR ALL GONNA WATCH....BECAUSE I AM PETER JACKSON, AND IT'S J.R.R. TOLKIEN!!!!!"

The Simillarion...and no...I doubt I am spelling it right...is one of the most difficult things to read....because J.R.R. Tolkien read the bible and basically said "I need one of these for my world." It's J.R.R. Tolkiens' "bible" of Middle Earth...the entire "old testament" if you will....from the creation of the world and the rise of Morgoth. first mega evil (this guy made Sauron shine his boots), to classic love affairs and the history of every major city: Rivendale, Gondor, Mordor.....

What I have heard is that the first film will be the Hobbit in its entirety.

The second film will be new material covering from the end of the Hobbit, through the rise of Necromancer, and ending a little before the Fellowship begins. It will probably chronicle a lot of young Strider tales.

It's been a very long time since reading the novel, but it seems to me that the Hobbit was pretty jam-packed; IIRC, the animated movie wasn't that short, and it left out quite a bit and had short fight sequences.

When I first heard of the Hobbit project becoming two movies, my first thought was: "So the first movie will end with Smaug, and the second will at least start with that big-huge War of Five Armies (or whatever it's called).

Edit: And, with Sam Raimi aboard, there's now a 60% chance that the characters will have at least one small musical number...

Arcane Guyver wrote:It's been a very long time since reading the novel, but it seems to me that the Hobbit was pretty jam-packed; IIRC, the animated movie wasn't that short, and it left out quite a bit and had short fight sequences.

This was just shown in an English class here. Its about an hour long and cuts very little-Bjorn and the Arkenstone. That's pretty much it. The entire book can easily be done in a 2 hour flick.

Arcane Guyver wrote:Will have to reread & rewatch the Hobbit, then; though now that I think about it, there were quite a few 'musical' moments in the Hobbit already, padding it out some.

Its a 250 page book, Tolkien's writing style makes it seem much longer than it is. If you really think about it its goes down like this: Hobbiton, Trolls, Rivendell, Mountains, Goblins, Goblins chase, Bjorn, Forest, Spiders, Elves, Lake Town, Approach the lonely mountain, Smaug, Kill Smaug, the Battle of Five Armies, and Home.

If you block those together, and cut some of the extraneous bits (or just shorten some of them to brief scenes) its easily doable in two hours, making it a three hour flick like the Lord of the Rings movies leaves enough room to really flesh out each major sequence.